Border Czar Bribe: The ICE man bags $50K?
Did ICE Czar Tom Homan pocket money last year in return for promises that he could help well-heeled contractors get federal government work (border related mainly) when and if Donald Trump won the 2024 election?
MSNBC broke the story Sept. 20, but it also carried a follow-up piece Sept. 29, which carried this headline:
“How Tom Homan wound up ensnared in an FBI contracts-for-cash sting.”
It’s an interesting read. For sure. If for no other reason, the $50,000 he was being accused of taking initially had gone up into the million-dollar range after further investigation.
Homan, on Fox, called it a “hit piece.” Then, the White House and congressional GOP joined in – it’s a lie.
“You’re talking about a guy who spent 34 years enforcing the law,” Homan said. (Source: CBS News.)
Your point?
Not sure what that even means?
After 30 years, a lawman (includes women) will never, ever commit a white-criminal crime (bribery)?
The Democrats in Congress are now trying to get access to any and all Homeland Security contracts that included mention of Tom Homan.
To see how many bear his name as consultant.
The House Dems also want him to testify, while the Dems in the Senate want an open disclosure as to why the FBI investigation of Homan was shut down not long after Trump was sworn into office.
One last side mention While Trump was out and Biden was in, Tom Homan had his own consulting service, where you guessed it, he was working as a private consultant helping clients land contracts with the feds. (Source: MSNBC.) He also did work for the GEO Group, one of the largest private prison companies in the U.S. and is one of ICE’s largest contractors.
I agree. The thought of any potential conflict of interest never entered my mind either.
Kash and De-Tox Pills
After all, there was no question that if Trump won, Homan would be the goto guy for border security, and what better man to have on your speed dial in 2025 during a border crackdown – the same guy you used to pay when he was working for you as a consultant. Not to mention, all the money anyone needed for anything that had this label on it – border security?
Between Jan. 30, 2017, and June 29, 2018, Tom Homan was Trump’s acting director of ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). So there was no doubt that if Trump came back for a second term, Homan would get a golden ticket. And he did – Border Czar.
Muscle, brawn, and billions of dollars to play with.
The money was flowing. Nice work if you could get it. Guaranteed payment, and the cost usually (always?) of any federal government project exceeds that of any private contract, AKA, paying more in taxpayer dollars for the same work that would normally be charged a lot less to the private sector.
Meanwhile, word from the White House is ringing: Fake news. Nothing to see here; move along.
“And if you don’t move along, we’ll gas your a…”
None of us should simply brush off MSNBC because we’ve been told by the president and his echo chamber that it’s really MSDBC (Microsoft Democrat Broadcast Company). MSNBC may indeed lean to the left most of the time, but it does publish some credible, decent investigative journalism.
Like anything, the MSNBC story should be read to see what you think of the allegation labeled against ICE Czar Tom Homan – he took a bribe.
Does it sound plausible or not?
The way ICE has affected the Valley (some call it good; others, bad), not to mention the entire state, country, shouldn’t it at least have, as its head, a guy above reproach?
If someone is claiming that Tom Homan was a guy who would take a bribe as a consultant last year, allegedly, shouldn’t he and the White House staff have this story snuffed out the legit way?
Instead of burying it, open up the investigative file and see what, if anything, the FBI had on him during the course of its investigation.
Instead, they (AG Bondi) and (Kash Dash) say the investigation is now closed because no evidence of criminality on the part of Tom Homan was found.
Really? Then open up the investigative file.
The Office of White House Transparency has suddenly gone dark, hiding beside the Jeffrey Epstein files.
By the way, most people don’t know this, but do you know what Kash Patel was doing last year before he got the FBI gig?
“Running a large private investigative/security company with 1,000 employees.” We wish.
No, he was, according to NBC News, promoting a supplement line that purports without evidence to help people “detox” from Covid vaccines.
“Noooooooo.”
Afraid so. Our current FBI director, a snake oil salesman.
More from NBC News: “Patel plugged the supplements in posts on Truth Social — the social media platform owned by Trump Media & Technology Group — in February and April (2024).”
Law enforcement and selling Covid de-tox pills? Nay, the twin will never meet.
But it did, and now Kash the Dash is the top leading law enforcement officers in the land, not counting AG Pam or our DHS director (who shouldn’t be around dogs), Kristi Noem.
In one of Kash’s de-tox posts on Truth Social, he wrote: “Mrna detox, reverse the vaxx n get healthy. Spike the Vax, order this homerun kit to rid your body of the harms of the vax.”
I know. I find it scary too. It would be like saying to P.T. Barnum, would you like to work Secret Service?
Investigation Dropped
In response to the MSNBC story, on Fox last week, Homan says it’s “just one negative piece after another hit piece after another hit piece.”
The claim, however, that “Border Czar” Tom Homan took a $50,000 bribe from undercover FBI special agents last year, certainly gives one pause – where does the truth really lie?
Mr. Law and Order, ICE Czar TomHoman,theguywhoislocking up Jose the plumber and Maria the maid because they are in this country illegally, allegedly took a $50,000 bribe in 2024, but PresidentTrump’s DOJ made the case go away?
FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche released a statement calling the Homan probe a “baseless investigation” and finding “zero evidence of illegal activity or criminal wrongdoing.”
Simply do an online search for “Trump DOJ closes Homan case.”
First one pops up, courtesy of CBS News: “FBI, DOJ close bribery probe into border czar Tom Homan.”
The headlines are all over the map.
Here are the first two lede paragraphs from a Reuters story dated Sept. 21: “President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan accepted a $50,000 bag of cash from an undercover FBI agent last year in a since-closed U.S. Justice Department bribery investigation, two sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday.”
More from Reuters: “In the alleged scheme, Homan promised immigration-related government contracts when he joined the Trump administration in exchange for the money, the sources said, speaking anonymously to discuss nonpublic investigations.” People can claim that using “unnamed sources” is weak journalism, but that’s the only way some of this news is getting out. At least for discussion and public consumption. Who wants to attach their name to that allegation?
The Sept 29th MSNBC story, included this bit of info: “Tom Homan, the White House border czar, became entangled in an FBI sting last year after an associate of his suggested to undercover FBI agents that Homan could facilitate future government contracts in exchange for big money, according to four sources familiar with the investigation and a government document.” Big money, In the RGV, that means something.
Back to MSNBC: Julian “Jace” Calderas, a former U.S. immigration official who worked under Homan in the Obama administration, allegedly proposed to the agents — who were posing as businessmen — that Homan, in exchange for $1 million, could help them win lucrative federal contracts if Donald Trump became president again, according to an internal Justice Department document describing the investigation reviewed by MSNBC.”
Okay, we have a guy now leading the top agency in the new these days, ICE, even though technically, he’s not the director, but as far as boots on the ground go, he’s calling the shots with regard to ICE interaction with people, communities.
Shouldn’t his record be laid bare?
Tom and His $50K?
During a press conference last week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt first told us, “Mr. Homan never took the $50,000 you’re referring to, so you should get your facts straight.”
Then, Tom, feeling some heat, just a guess, went on Fox a day or so later and said that he, “did nothing criminal,” and, “I did nothing illegal.”
Please, dude, and I’m using “dude” in the respectful sense, either say you took a bag with $50,000 in it, or not. Don’t insult our intelligence with a clever turn of phrase crafted by 10 attorneys stone cold sober: “I did nothing illegal.” Or: “I did nothing criminal.”
Maybe, in your mind and those of your government attorneys, in a legal sense that might be true (prove intent, etc.); and maybe you never even took a Canva bag (sounds pretty specific though) from undercover fed agents with $50,000 in cash in it.
But what Karoline Leavitt said just isn’t true – That the FBI investigation was “another example of the weaponization of the Biden Department of Justice against one of President Trump’s strongest and most vocal supporters.”
Turns out, the FBI just happened to stumble on the idea of Homan being a crook (alleged) while working counterintelligence on a separate case.
From a Sept. 22, 2025, Reuters story written by Sarah N. Lynch: “The probe into Homan started around August 2024 near the end of President Joe Biden’s administration and stemmed from a separate national security investigation, one of the sources told Reuters.”
According to the story, the prime target kept bringing up Homan’s name, saying he was taking bribes in exchange for future government contracts.
Reuters credited two unnamed sources for the info, which has to be pretty good, vetted by Reuters’ legal department before it ever ran.
Alleged $1 mill
The story first broke courtesy of MSNBC reporter Carol Leonnig, who has decades under her belt working as an investigative journalist. To her credit, she is also a four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize (stories that exposed questionable actions by both Republicans and Democrats).
In that unrelated criminal probe, according to Reuters, based on Leonnig’s reporting, the target repeatedly brought up Tom Homan by name, saying he was collecting bribes in exchange for future government contracts, the two sources told Reuters.
An undercover sting operation was set up, and Homan was (allegedly) caught on a recording accepting a $50,000 bribe in a bag from the restaurant chain Cava, the sources said.
Okay, Tom, if it’s not true that you’re a crook, let the FBI produce the secret recording (audio and visual, just a guess).
You’re our top immigration guy, deporting the criminals but also the maids, field hands, construction workers, and a host of others, sending decent families into an emotional meltdown, so shouldn’t you be squeaky clean?
You say you are, so why not demand that the case against you be laid bare? Full disclosure.
I know one thing, if a news outlet ran a story like this about me while I was the border czar, I wouldn’t be parsing my words – “I did nothing illegal,” or “criminal.”
No, I’d be demanding that the FBI release the tape. Today.
Homan doesn’t have to, though. Kash Patel, AG Pam Bondi have his back.
Besides, his boss, the president, is calling the Homan story “Fake News” on his social media.
Nothing to see here; move along.
Seriously, in closing, how can any MAGA supporter condone this?
If Homan is indeed a crook, and I’m certainly not even suggesting he is, just what’s been reported, then he should be fired, indicted, and put on trial for bribery.
T-R-A-N-S-P-A-R-E-N-C-Y.
That’s what the president promised.
But where is it?
“Over there. By the Epstein files.”